A mission to attract the second largest airline of China to Perth is a principal reason for Premier Mark McGowan’s six-day visit to the most populated country in the world.

The Premier has agreed that he will meet up with the chairman of China Eastern Airlines, along with Paul Papalia, Tourism Minister and Kevin Brown, Perth Airport boss with the expectation of securing direct flights to from Shanghai to Perth – a city with over 27 million people.

To quote Mr McGowan, “This city has one of the largest groupings of millionaires and billionaires anywhere in the world. If we can get China Eastern flying to Perth it would create a huge increase in tourism numbers.”

Till date, China Eastern never had any direct flight to Perth. However, it sends thousands of passengers from Shanghai and other well known Chinese cities to Australian destinations like Sydney and Melbourne every week through dozens of available carriers.
Over 640,000 passengers arrived in NSW aboard China Eastern flights in 2016.

“We’re going to be telling China Eastern about the advantages and possibilities of bringing passengers to Perth,” Mr McGowan said.

“One is the fact we’re in the same time zone.”
At present, the only Chinese flight flying to WA is China Southern that recently added its direct flights from the Guangzhou to five a week. But Mr McGowan also disclosed that his Government is discussing with the airline to extend their operation to a seven-day-a-week service into Perth.